


Bring Me To Sleep

by marissa_ann



Category: The Hobbit (2012)
Genre: BOFA AU, Fluff, Friendship, Gen, hobbit-kink-meme
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-22
Updated: 2013-02-22
Packaged: 2017-12-03 05:21:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,385
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/694612
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/marissa_ann/pseuds/marissa_ann
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Written for the hobbit kink meme: Playing with Kili's hair makes him sleepy.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Bring Me To Sleep

**Author's Note:**

> It was too cute not to give it a try.

“Aye, Laddie, you should be resting,” Dwalin said as Kili sank to the grass by his feet. Dwalin and Nori were on watch, both of them since they were outside, and they’d each taken up their spots on separate ends of the camp. There was still many hours until the sun rose and they had a long day’s travel ahead of them. Kili should be asleep by his brother. “Go on back to your brother. You’ve done your part already tonight.”

Kili had been sent out hunting before dinner and he had brought back a few rabbits for the stew. With a good dinner in them and a calm night for rest, it would make the road ahead easier to travel, though no shorter.

“Awake now,” Kili shrugged. He’d brought his blanket with him and had it wrapped over his head and shoulders with just his face peeking out. It made Kili appear as the young dwarfling so eager to start his training because he wanted to be just like his brother.

Dwalin just smiled and gave the lad’s blanket a gentle tug, causing it to fall from his head. Most nights he would have simply sent the boy back to his brother’s side with a firm order to return to sleep but between the hearty stew Bombur had cooked and the last few days being calm, Dwalin was in a good mood and he indulged the lad.

“Have I ever told you about the time,” Dwalin began to recount a story from his past, absent-mindedly freeing Kili’s hair from where it was tucked under the blanket as he spoke then kept running his fingers through the dark hair. It was not long before he saw the telltale sign of the lad struggling to keep his chin from dropping to his chest but sleep soon won and Dwalin eased the boy to lie on the ground.

If Nori spoke lies in the morning about how he slid his pack under the lad’s head, Dwalin would set everyone straight. The boy had used the pack for his pillow all on his own. Dwalin had nothing to do with making Kili more comfortable. Nothing at all.

**

 

Dori missed taking care of his brothers. Nori barely stayed in one place long enough for Dori to have a conversation with him, must less make sure his brother was eating and sleeping properly. And Nori would likely not give him an answer if he did ask. Ori never left him but his youngest brother was always trying to prove himself and wouldn’t submit to Dori’s concerned touches.

He became good at finding ways to care for them without their knowledge, especially once they set out to reclaim Erebor. Ori never noticed his assigned watches were shorter than the others’ watches and Nori would never know why Dwalin’s comments about jail suddenly ceased. He still longed for the days when Nori actually listened to him or Ori would seek him out for comfort.

It was second nature to him to provide comfort so when young Kili complained of aches in his head, not loud enough to draw the attention of Thorin or Fili who were discussing something at the edge of camp, Dori asked Oin for the required ingredients to brew a tea to aid the youngling’s pain. Nori would have rolled his eyes and refused, Ori would have insisted he was grown and complained before he gave in and drank the tea. He was surprised when Kili accepted the tea with a strained smile and curled up against his side.

“Would you like me to fetch Fili?” he asked, glancing over to where Fili was still talking to Thorin. They appeared to be arguing and Dori was loath to interrupt them but he would if Kili wanted his brother.

“No moving please,” Kili murmured. His head was now on Dori’s shoulder and Dori hoped the tea had given him some relief from the pain. “Are they still fighting?”

Dori knew that tone all too well. It was the same tone Ori still had after witnessing a fight between him and Nori, which happened more often than not when Ori was younger and Nori made an appearance in their lives. He glanced around the camp to make sure no one was paying them any attention then slid his arm around Kili’s shoulders and threaded his fingers in the lad’s hair. It was the same thing he used to do for Ori when his baby brother was upset.

“Try to sleep,” Dori said instead of confirming the two were, indeed, still fighting.

Soon he felt Kili’s body go slack and knew the lad had fallen asleep. He could have laid the sleeping boy on the ground, or asked someone to catch Thorin’s or Fili’s attention, but then he risked waking the lad. He also wasn’t ready to give up the feeling of getting to care for someone again. Even if, at the moment, it meant letting Kili use him as a pillow.

**

 

Bombur had always found comfort in food. There were many times when his family did not have enough food for full stomachs and during his travels with Thorin to reclaim their home, empty stomachs became common again. He had looked forward to reclaiming their home and celebrating with feasts. He was not, by any means, a naïve dwarfling, and he’d known death was a possibility during their quest, but he’d had the hope of better days in his mind.

The kitchen was truly a sight to behold, at least in Bombur’s eyes. After the hard-won battle, the kitchen became his place of comfort. He knew Bofur would lock himself in his room and build toys while Bifur would go deep underground. Ori could almost always be found in the library and he assumed the others all had their own areas that comforted them. Chopping vegetables and meat helped drown out the thoughts in his head that tried to remind him how close they were to losing the battle. They all survived but not all had walked away. Thorin, his king, needed a full week in bed to recover from his injuries, Fili, the heir, would have scars for the rest of his life, and Kili, the boy rarely left his bed chambers unless accompanied by one of the company.

That was why he was surprised to look up when he heard someone entering the kitchen to find Kili with no one following behind him. It was mid-morning and Bombur had been awake for hours working in the kitchen but he stopped his chopping to give the prince his attention.

“Are you hungry Kili?” he asked. He hadn’t seen the princeling during breakfast but that had become common. Either Fili or Ori would bring a plate up to Kili’s room and he would eat by himself. Bombur thought the only reason Kili ate lunch and dinner in the hall was on Thorin’s insistence.

Kili shook his head and stumbled over to the small table against the wall. Dwarves who just wanted a snack or wanted to keep a worker company would sit at the table but other than that, it was rarely used. Bombur sat next to the lad as Kili folded his arms on the table and rested his head on them.

“Aye, it would be more comfortable to rest in your chambers,” he said in amusement.

“It would,” Kili agreed but made no attempt to move.

Bombur reached out to brush the hair out of the prince’s face, smiling as the boy’s eyes slipped closed. It was no secret that Kili could often be made to sleep by threading fingers in his hair; Thorin and Fili had regaled them all with tales of Kili falling asleep in their arms as they attempted to braid his hair.

“It smells good in here,” Kili sounded near sleep so Bombur kept running his fingers through the dark hair. “I like it.”

“You are more than welcome in here anytime Kili,” Bombur smiled.

When he was certain the princeling slept, Bombur rose from his seat. He retrieved his coat from where it hung and placed it over Kili’s shoulders, giving the dark head one last pat before he returned to chopping vegetables. He would let the lad rest and wake him for lunch.


End file.
